Your posture has a huge influence on how you feel; sitting, standing, lying and of course when you move. Holding yourself in ‘good’ alignment throughout the day; searching for perfect posture, can mean that you’re never at rest – you’re having a whole day workout. Tension in your back and neck and hips caused by holding yourself can become really painful.
But that’s not to say completely abandon all awareness of your alignment!
Take A Seat
It may help if you give yourself props. You have your own props when sitting – your sit bones – ideally when you sit, you sit on them. We’re human aren’t we though? Not mannequins or robots.
Give this a go……
Try sitting on your hands and feeling your sit bones, then rocking your pelvis back and forth. This helps you to find that nice middle ground where your sit bones will be prodding into your hands. If you can get there, it’ll most likely be a good neutral pelvis alignment when you’re sat down.
Are you a sloucher or a percher?
Do you…
- Slouch back so that the sit bones are forward and ribs and shoulders are hunched over?
- Perch forward, pushing your sit bones behind you so that your ribs stick out?
Perching can be really uncomfortable, depending upon your chair and body shape – you might perch because It’s actually uncomfortable to be sat on your bones.
Sitting on a small flat cushion or a folded towel means you’ll be more comfortable on your sit bones and your pelvis will be in a better place.
A cushion in your car can help, although most car seats seem to help us hunch over and slouch; here you can only do the best you can.
The force on your back is higher when you’re sat down; your hips are flexed and if you’re not on your sit bones, the pressure on your lumbar discs is greatly increased.
So; a few good things to do when you’re sitting
Have your feet flat on the ground, even if you need a box to rest them on. If your legs are dangling, the force on your lower back is higher
Place your feet a little wider than your hips; it gives you a good base of support
Try to have you hips at least level with, if not slightly higher than your knees (this helps prevent sitting in deep hip flexion, taking the pressure off your lower back)
Stand up occasionally and move around.
Every body and every day is different.
Ideally posture isn’t something that is a lot of work to hold; finding ease and economy of movement is key.